Twisted Summer
by Pandor4
Summary: ABANDONED Harry is moved into Snape’s home for protection after number four is demolished. While he is there though, things don't end up going so well for Harry and Snape is losing the trust of Dumbledore and Voldemort. Will Harry stay safe with Snape
1. Chapter 1

Twisted Summer

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Chapter One

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Revised June 11th, 2007

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Harry Potter sat on the Hogwart's Express. The train had just reached platform 9 ¾ and he was not in the mood to get up and off the train. He had told Ron and Hermione that he would catch up with them on the platform to say good-bye for the summer, but really, he had been lying through his teeth to them. He planned to stay on the train until he was positive that they were gone, so they would not see him sneak off into London and not leave with the Dursleys. He didn't think he could stand yet another summer with the Dursleys, especially while the memories of Sirius falling through the veil were still so fresh in his mind.

Harry's eyes began to water, but he quickly attempted to get rid of the wetness. He had promised himself a few days after Sirius died, that he would not cry again for him, he had cried enough during those first few days, and he needed to get stronger. If he were ever going to be the child in the prophecy he needed to get stronger than he was now. That is exactly what he planned on doing this summer too. He would go live at the leaky caldron and study.

Harry was so lost in thought that he did not even notice that someone had entered the compartment that he was sitting in until they cleared their throat. Harry spun around, his wand already half way out of his pocket, until he saw that Professor Snape was standing just inside the doorway of his compartment, looking very agrivated.

"Mr. Potter, stand up!" Snape ordered. Harry stumbled quickly to his feet, wondering why Snape was here. The only other professor that he had ever seen on the train was Professor Lupin, and that had been two years ago. But, before he could ask Snape any questions, something was thrust into his hand and he felt a familiar tug as he was swept away.

'A portkey!' Harry though in panic before he landed hard on a wooden floor, Snape standing behind him. He looked around himself, but didn't recognize where he was. It looked like an entrance way of a small house, the floor was clean, but creaky and worn from years of use, and if you looked carefully you could see that the walls were not quite as clean as they should have been. The furnishings, also looked old, almost antique, but kept clean of mold or dust.

Harry finally realized he was still sitting on the floor and Snape was standing over him, waiting for him to get up. Harry quickly clambered to his feet and looked over at Snape. "Um… Sir? Where are we?" He asked, a bit nervous. He did not completely trust Snape, and for all he knew this could be a plan of Lord Voldemort. Snape, however ignored Harry and quickly tread silently down the one hallway that lead away from this entrance room.

"Follow, Mr. Potter. Quickly!" Snape called over his shoulder, not waiting for Harry to catch up. Harry of course, quickly followed Snape down the hall, which was lined with wizard portraits, most of the were of old men, which were sleeping soundly, but a few more, young and lively wizards and witches gazed out of their frames at the passing people. Some of them were wispering to each other, and Harry could make out some of the conversations 'That's him.' 'The one that is coming here now.' 'The poor boy.' Harry was so busy looking and listening to the portraits on the walls that he did not notice until too late, that Professor Snape had abruptly stopped in front of a door. Unable to stop himself soon enough, Harry ran into his professor.

"Pay close attention, Potter, we would not want any unfortunate accidents here." The professor hissed at Harry before turning around and knocking loudly on the door. The door shuddered, and with a creaky sigh, it began to open up for the professor. Harry watched the door intently, wondering what was behind the old thing.

"Severus? I trust you have him." Came a solemn voice from inside, that Harry guessed belonged to Professor Dumbledore.

"I did." Severus said as he moved into the room so that Harry could now see that it was in fact Dumbledore. Although he looked different, his eyes did not have their usual twinkle, and his face seemed slag, and devoid of energy. Dumbledore nodded to Severus and Harry, motioning for both of them to sit down in the chairs that were opposite his. Harry quickly took his seat next to Snape and was about to open his mouth to ask Dumbledore, where he was, but was cut off as Dumbledore spoke first.

"Ah, Harry. I have horrible, horrible news that I must impart upon you. I am very sorry to tell you this, but number four was demolished while you rode the train from Hogwarts."

Harry stared at Dumbledore, stunned. When he finally found his voice the only thing he was able to say was, "What?!" This was not suppose to have happened, even though he did not want to admit it, that house and his relatives had kept him safe from any trouble through blood magic. It had managed to keep him safe every summer and now it was gone. Dumbledore sighed, his hands loosely clasped in front of him.

"The protection of the Dursley's house was all but gone when we checked on it before you came home. I must admitt this is partially my fault. I believed that the wards would be restored when you came home. The Dursleys however never left to come pick you up from the train station this year. The Death Eaters broke through the weak wards thinking you were already home, since the Dursleys were there. They planned to kill you, but when they could not find you they killed the Dursleys instead." Dumbledore paused to let this information be acknowledged by Harry.

Harry was in shock. His only relatives were now dead, just like Sirius. First Sirius and now the Dursleys. How many people would die this year because of him? Harry just stared down at the floor unable to comprehend what he had just heard.

"I am sorry, Harry." Dumbledore said softly. Harry just nodded for Dumbledore to continue.

"All this means that you are left without a guardian. You understand?" Dumbledore asked, his voice serious. Guardian. Sirius. Dead. It took Harry a longer time to respond to Dumbledore this time.

"Yes, I understand. Who is going to look after me now?" He asked his voice a bit raspy.

Dumbledore nodded gravely, "Well, as headmaster of Hogwarts, I am to find a suitable guardian, within twenty-four hours." Another pause. Harry could tell there was something that Dumbledore did not want to tell him. He was dragging this point out far to long.

"Yes? So who have you chosen?" Harry asked, curious to know who would be his new guardian. He hoped, that Remus would take over Sirius's guardianship.

"Severus has agreed to become your temporary guardian," Dumbledore said quickly, looking over at Snape who had been quiet through the entire conversation. Harry had even forgotten that he was there, but now he looked over at Snape with surprise and disgust, before turning back to Dumbledore.

"What! Him? You must be joking…" Harry began, but the serious look in Dumbledore's eyes told him that this was indeed no joke. "But…But, sir, we don't get along well. Surely there must be someone else that could do it, Lupin…the Weasleys…?" Harry desperately, did not want to be connected to Snape in any way.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but it is already officially approved by the ministry. Besides, Lupin's lycanthropy does not allow him to be accepted by the ministry, and the Weasley's have enough children of their own to look after, rather than having to have one more added to their house, although I am sure they would have agreed if I had asked them. Besides, Severus has my full confidence. You will do well together."

Harry had stopped listening after the first words had left Dumbledore's mouth. "You mean, it is official? It can't be changed now?" He asked weakly as he glanced over at Snape, who let no emotions slip out from behind his cold mask, as he watched Harry.

"No, It can't be changed now." Dumbledore said. "You will be living with Severus for the remainder of the summer, until school starts again. I am sorry, but I have some other business that needs to be attended to. I will leave you to get to know each other better." Dumbledore said quickly, and before either of the two people sitting could protest, Dumbledore had apparated out of the room.

Harry looked glumly over at where Snape was sitting. 'Now what?' He thought to himself, as he observed the man in front of him. He still had the same, stiff teaching robes, that he wore around Hogwarts on, and his hair was still just as greasy as it was before. Harry wondered if he should say something, anything to break the unnerving silence that surrounded him, but Snape did first.

"Crafty old coot." Snape muttered to himself before continuing on in a louder voice. "Mr. Potter, you will be staying here for the remainder of the summer. All of your things have been moved to one of the guest rooms. Maren will show you the way." He said, as a house elf popped into view. Harry looked down at the elf, and by the time he looked back up, Snape was already across the room and at the door and gone.

'Great.' Harry thought to himself. 'Some great summer this will be. Stuck here with Snape, no, it didn't seem like Snape even wanted to see him. He had left without saying anything, but that he would be in a guest room.' He sighed inwardly and looked back down at the elf. "Well, shall we go?" Harry asked.

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A/N: After some thought, I have decided to go back and revise some of my earlier chapters for this story. So here is the first one. 


	2. Chapter 2

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Twisted Summer

Chapter 2

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Revised June 11th, 2007

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Harry sat down on the double bed of the guest room that Maren had just showed to him. The room itself was not incredible huge, but larger than his room at number four. The pale green walls, were covered with more portraits. The whole house was that way. The only places that there were not any paintings, was a small area near the door to a small bathroom, where a full length mirror had been placed. The room was furnished in more of the old antique furniture, and his trunk was placed at the end of the bed, waiting to be unpacked, just like it had been at the Dursleys.

Harry sighed. So, the Dursley's were dead. He would never have to suffer through another summer with them. That was a relief in itself, but Harry did feel a twang of guilt that it was partly his fault that they were dead. They were killed for just being related to him and giving him a home. 'But Dumbledore fixed that little problem about not having a home quickly…' Harry thought bitterly. Dumbledore had shoved him in with his most despised potions professor, Severus Snape, without thinking about how well they got along together. And then Snape didn't even care if he was here of not. He had called a house elf to take care of him, and left without saying another word.

It was going to be a lonely summer if Snape never talked to him. Harry was not sure where he would have rather spent the summer. With the Dursleys, where he would have had to do chores everyday, or with Snape, where he was unsure what would happen during the summer. He could just imagine Snape getting pleasure out of making him work like a house elf though. Harry cringed and looked out a small window that looked into a courtyard. The sky was getting darker, and his stomach had begun to grumble.

He decided that he would go out and see if he could find the kitchen. He wondered out into the corridor, and headed to the left where the stairs were suppose to be. He went down to the first floor, a bit nervous. This house had too many paintings, and all of them had people that were staring at him, and all whispering to one another, creating a never ceasing soft buzz of noise through out the house. Harry nearly jumped when one painting of an elderly woman spoke loudly to him. "Young man, what is it that you are looking for?"

Harry looked at the painting. "I was wondering where the kitchen was." Harry told the painting.

"Down the hallway to the left, and second door on the left." The witch's portrait said curtly.

"Ah, thank you." Harry said and quickly walked away where the portrait had told him to go. Harry went through the second door to the left, and found himself in a huge kitchen, there were some pots cooking on a stove in back and he saw Maren preparing some chicken at one of the tables.

"Ahh!" Maren squeaked when she saw him. "Is there something you need, Mr. Potter?"

"I was a bit hungry. I was coming down here, to see if there was something I could eat." Harry explained to Snape's house elf.

"Well, if Mr. Potter does not mind waiting five minutes more, Maren will be done with making dinner."

"Alright." Harry said, "That's fine. Should I wait here?"

"Oh no, no, no, no. You should go to the dinning room where I will be serving the dinner."

"Oh, Okay. Where is that?" Harry asked

"At the very end of this hallway. Hard to miss," Maren explained as she lead Harry back out of the kitchen. Harry bid Maren goodbye and continued on his own down the long hallway. And sure enough he found the dinning room, but he also found Severus Snape there too, reading a book.

Harry stood in the doorway looking at Snape, who had not noticed him yet. It was a good thing that Snape had not noticed Harry either, or else, Harry was sure he would have looked like a gob fish. Snape was not wearing his hideous black robes, in fact he was not wearing any black at all. He had a pair of dark kaki pants on and a white button-up shirt on. And his hair was pulled back to the nape of his neck, rather than falling around his face and it looked clean and soft, not at all how it looked like at school. Harry was in shock to see Snape looking so… un-snape like. 'He actually does not look half bad…' Harry began to think.

Harry contemplated turning around and going back to the kitchen, but was afraid if he moved that Snape would notice him. Harry was about to take a step backwards when Snape turned his head towards him. "Are you going to stand in the door all day, Potter? Come in and sit down!" Snape ordered. Not having a choice in the matter now, Harry walked over to the table, and sat down opposite of Snape, not saying anything.

They sat there in silence like that, waiting for Maren to bring the dinner. Snape reading, and Harry staring at Snape, unsure if he should risk breaking the silence, but luckily Maren did that for him. A plate of food popped up in front of Harry and he heard a simultaneous pop, of Maren coming into view. "Mr. Snape," She said, bowing so low that her long nose almost touched the ground. "Dinner is served." She said gracefully, before popping back out of the room, leaving Snape and Harry alone again.

Harry nervously inspected the food in front of him, chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, and a piece of bread. Harry looked up to see if Snape had started his dinner yet, just to make sure that it was less likely that his dinner was poisoned, but found that Snape had been staring at him, not eating.

"Mr. Potter, it would be considered impolite of me to begin eating before my guest has." Snape stated, looking coldly at Harry. "And I would like to be able to eat sometime soon."

"Oh, sorry, professor." Harry said weakly and picked up his fork. He stabbed one of the green beans with his fork and quickly ate it. As soon as the food was in his mouth, Snape began to eat. Harry watched him eat, while he slowly at his dinner. They were both almost completely done before either one of them spoke again. "Sir, I was wondering if…if you could answer some questions for me." Harry said nervously, not wanting Snape to become angry with him.

Snape looked up from his plate and nodded. "What is it?" He asked impatiently.

"Why was I placed in your care?" Harry asked quickly.

Snape sighed and rubbed his forehead. "The dark lord is least likely to expect that you would be placed in my care, therefore that is exactly what Dumbledore did. Does that answer your question?" Snape explained.

"I guess." Harry said, pausing briefly and then continuing again, "But what if other death eaters come here?"

"My home is warded so that very few people know where it is, and none of them are death eaters. If you have nothing else to say, then I am leaving." Snape said as he stood up quickly and left, before Harry was given a chance to say anything else. Harry was left sitting at the table his mouth half open and his hand raised slightly, about to ask another question, but Snape was already gone. 'He is such a hypocrite. He says he has to be polite to guest at the dinner table and then gets up and leaves.' Harry thought to himself before allowing himself a small sigh. He stood up from the dining table and made his way back to the guest room. Hoping a good nights sleep would clear everything up.

* * *

Harry was awoken the next morning by a man's voice "Sir? Sir! It is time to get up! Master Snape wishes to see you immediately!" Harry gowned and rolled over, covering his head with a pillow hoping to block out the voice. "Sir? SIR! NOW!" yelled the voice next to his bed. Harry rolled over and glared at the portrait that was next to his bed.

"Fine!" Harry nearly shouted, annoyed that he was getting woken up by a painting. He threw off his covers. "Where does he want to see me?"

"In his study." The portrait replied matter-of-factly.

"Right…and where would that be?" Harry asked as he pulled on the trousers he had on yesterday.

"The door at the top of the stairs." The portrait said before leaving it's frame and walking away, leaving Harry to get ready by himself.

"Stupid portraits." Harry muttered to himself as he walked into the bathroom to wash his face, and brush it teeth quickly before hurry out of the room. Why in the world would Snape want to see him this early in the morning. Didn't he know that summer was meant to be a time when you could sleep in! Harry tried to shake off his remaining drowsiness before knocking on Snape's door, but before he even touched it the door opened inwardly to reveal Professor Snape who had his hair pulled back again and had on a dark red shirt this time. He was sitting behind a large plain desk, covered with stacks of parchment and an assortment of jars containing potion ingredients.

Harry was caught mid-yawn when the door was pulled open and he quickly tried to stifle it but was unsuccessful. "Tired, Mr. Potter?" Snape drawls as he motions Harry into the room.

"A little, sir." Harry replied. In fact he had, had a bad night. He had not been able to sleep because his mind had kept drifting back to the Dursleys. And when he had finally achieved sleep, dreams of Sirius had haunted him, but he would not go and tell Snape that.

"Do you want Dreamless sleep potion in the future?"

That caught Harry off guard. "What?"

"The portraits told me you were thrashing about all night, having dreams" Snape said simply, before picking up a piece of parchment on his desk and reading it.

"It is okay, sir. They really don't work all that well for me anyways…" Harry trailed off. He had not been planning on revealing that little bit of information. Ever since Sirius's death, the dreamless sleep potions began to seem to loose an effect on him.

"Is that so?" Snape muttered to himself, examining Harry pensively.

"Yes, sir. I was also wondering why," Harry yawns, "… why are there so many portraits here?" Harry asked, still not fully awake. Snape stared at him for a long while, and for a second Harry thought that Snape was not going to say anything else, and took a step backwards to leave. But, before he could leave though Snape began to speak.

"This house, as you have noticed, has many portraits. They are all of different researchers throughout the ages, from all different backgrounds. And if you ask nicely, the will lend you all of their notes on their studies and some of them have printed work they will give you." Snape explained lazily to Harry as he went back to examining the paper in front of him.

"Oh, okay." Harry said, "So it is like a library?"

"Yes, Potter. Now if you don't mind, I have things to do." Snape motioned for Harry to leave through the door he had come through only a few minutes before.

"Alright," Harry said and turned around to go out the door, but before he could leave Snape's voice broke the silence again.

"Potter, I will look into making a dreamless sleep potion that will work for you." Snape said quickly.

"Thank you, sir." Harry replied before exiting the room, a small smile picking up the corners of his lips. Maybe Snape was not a complete jerk all the time. But, then again, maybe not. That had been the only nice thing he had done the entire time Harry had been here, except of course, agreeing to look after Harry in the first place. Harry continued back to his room, determined to ask one of the portraits there to let him see their work.

Harry entered his room, his tiredness forgotten as he curiously looked for a portrait to ask. Most of the more elderly looking painting where still asleep, and the ones that did not have sleeping wizards and witches in them where empty, presumable out and about, wandering though different frames in the house. Harry looked around the room looking for a suitable portrait which was awake.

One finally caught his attention however. It was the portrait that hung next to the mirror. The portrait was of an old man, the top of his head completely bald, and long thin white hair growing down from the sides of his head. His face was wrinkled and his eyes dull. The thing that was interesting about the portrait was not the man really, but what the man was doing. He had a small snake twisted around his forearm and was whispering to it, and the snake was whispering back.

Harry listen to them murmur in parseltongue to each other for a while. "…Quentin Trimble came around last night, ranting and raving about how we were all going to die from the dark arts that where taking over the world…"

"…He is amusing though, master…"

"…Yes, He does prove entertaining. We are still all alive after all…" After a few minutes of pointless banter the wizard finally noticed that Harry was standing there staring at them. The portrait glared at him from it's frame. "What do you want?" It asked impatiently, switching out of parseltongue.

Harry, who had never done this before, was unsure of how to proceed. "Well, sir, I was just told that all of the portraits here have done important research, and I was wondering what you did…" Harry trailed off wondering if he had something wrong, because if possible the man in the portrait frowned even more than he had been before.

The snake that was wrapped around the arm began to move it's way up to the man's shoulder, "The brat wants your work." the snake muttered and then if possible it made something that sounded close to a laugh.

"Yes. I do want to look at his work." Harry told the snake in parseltongue. Both the wizard and the snake stared at Harry for a long time. Harry shifted uncomfortably under their hard gaze. "What?"

"You speak our language!" The snake said in shock.

"Umm… Yes. I do." Harry replied, watching the snake curl around the mans throat, but the man did not seem worried about it.

"Interesting. I will let you have a look at these…" The man said, as his portrait swung forward revealing a small alcove behind it. Inside was a small leather bound book, covered with a fine layer of dust. Harry gently removed it from the alcove and read the cover.

"The Works of Herpo the Foul" Harry said as he ran his fingers over the cover letters. "What did you study?" Harry asked, as the portrait shut and the man was facing him again.

The man in the portrait was now grinning. "You will have to read that for yourself, and figure it out. I am sure you will find it interesting."

Harry nodded and flipped open to the first page, but rather than having it be covered in any letters that Harry could distinguish, it was covered in what at first seemed to be random squiggles, but as Harry looked at them, they seemed to arrange themselves into letters, so that Harry could read it. A header read 'First Stages of Basilisk Studies.' Harry looked up to ask the portrait something, but found that the man had slipped off while he had been looking at the book.

Harry shrugged, and went and sat down on an armchair that was sitting in one of the corners of the room, and began to read.

It was a long time before Harry's stomach was finally stronger than his curiosity about what the book had to say. Harry stood up and made his way down to the kitchen to get some breakfast, or maybe lunch would be a better term for what Harry had to get. He tucked the small book into his pocket and made his way downstairs to the kitchen . When he arrived Marren had pushed a mounding plate of bacon and egg sandwiches at him. Harry thanked the enthusiastic house elf and sat in the kitchen and ate, thinking about what he had read.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry had known some things about the Basilisk before reading the book, because of his encounter with one in second year, but here, in this book, they talked about how Basilisk where actually hatched, and how to even raise it properly without killing yourself. 'The basilisk is a creature that is born from a spherical, yolkless egg, laid during the days of Sirius (the Dog Star) by a seven-year-old rooster and hatched by a toad.' Harry recalled as he finished off the last of his sandwich and pumpkin juice. It all sounded very complicated to him.

After having finished his brunch, Harry went off in search of a more comfortable chair or couch to read on. Harry wandered down one of the halls he had not been down yet, looking into each room trying to find a chair that looked promising, most of them however looked the same, all very hard and old fashioned. Harry finally made it to the back of the house where he could go no further, the room had windows, and very few portraits, which was strange in itself. There had been no other windows looking outside of the house that he had seen yet.

Harry walked over to the windows, oblivious to the faces that were peering curiously at him as he approached the window. Harry pulled the curtain to one side so that is vision would be un-obscured as he peered out. The view was magnificent, there where mountains in the background and a lake at the bottom of the hill, that the house was apparently situated on. Around the lake Harry could make out what looked like a large magical garden. Harry stood transfixed staring at the landscape, until a voice broke him out of his trance.

"What are you doing here," Snape snarled from behind him. Harry turned around and saw that Snape was indeed angry with him. Snape's whole body was stiff and his face, usually void of expression was contorted in anger. "Well Potter! Speak up!"

"I…I was trying somewhere more comfortable to read the book I got," Harry stammered quickly and pulled the small book out of his pocket to give proof to Snape that he was in fact telling the truth. Snape quickly snatched the book out of Harry's hand and flipped to one of the pages without looking at the title. Snape stared at the pages for a few moments before looking up coldly at Harry.

"Potter there is nothing intelligible written on these pages." Snape hissed before slamming the book shut in Harry's face.

"But, sir …" Harry started but Snape cut him off.

"But what!"

"I can read it." Harry said. Snape looked into Harry's eyes for a long moment, before opening to the title page of the book.

"Prove it!" Snape said as he pushed the book under Harry's nose. It took Harry a few seconds to focus properly, but he was finally able to read it out loud to Snape.

"Guild to Basilisk, By Herpo the Foul," Harry read. This only seemed to make Snape more angry with him though.

"IN ENGLISH, POTTER!" Snape snapped.

"But, it was… oh…" Harry said as he realized that what he had said must have been in parseltongue rather than English. "Guild to Basilisk, By Herpo the Foul." Harry said, this time in English.

"Why, Potter, are you reading dark books?" Snape fumed as he snapped the book shut again.

"Well…" Harry began as he tried to think up a valid excuse. He had been so interested in what he was reading that he had not actually stopped to think of it as a dark art book. Just a book similar to something that Hagrid might have assigned them for Care of Magical Creatures class, not some book that would not be approved of. "Um…Well."

"No excuse, just as I thought." Snape said, with an air of success. "I will be keeping this and from now on you are to stay out of this room!" Snape said as he lead Harry out the door, and slammed it before Harry could protest any further. The portraits in the hall were all murmuring to one another as Harry stood there a bit stunned. Finally the murmuring of the portraits broke him out of his slumber and his head snapped up.

"SHUT UP!" He yelled, not caring if Snape could hear him inside his study. Harry angrily made his way back to his room. Snape had just taken the one book Harry had in his possession that he thought was mildly interesting, and Snape had stolen it! Now he would have to go and find someone else to borrow a book from and he did not like the idea of that. He stormed into his room and sat down on his bed, and glanced over at the frame of Herpo the Foul. He was back and had noticed Harry's entrance.

"What happened to you?" The portrait hissed, at the grumpy looking Harry.

"Snape." Harry growled.

"What did he do this time?" Herpo asked sounding exasperated.

"He took your book!"

"WHAT!" Herpo yelled "I'll get him!" Herpo did not even waiting for Harry to reply as he rushed out of the room, via the portrait frames.

Harry watched a bit confuse as Herpo rushed out of the room. What in the world did the portrait think it would be able to do to Snape? Harry's curiosity got the better of him for the second time that day though and he followed the figure of Herpo along the wall until he was standing in front of the door to Snape's study, the door still closed. Snape had told him only minutes ago that he was to stay out of the study and Herpo noticed that he was not making any attempts to even knock on the door in front of him.

"Well boy?" The portrait asked, agitated that Harry was not barging into Snape's room.

"He just told me to stay out of his study not more than five minutes ago. I am not about to go and do exactly what he told me directly not to do right now. I will wait here."

"Fine." Herpo huffed as he moved to the edge of the last frame and into Snape's study. Harry wondered if Herpo would actually be able to manage to get Snape to hand the book back over. He highly doubted it, but decided to see if Herpo got lucky by some slim chance. As he waited he began to hear the gruff voice of Herpo begin to raise in volume. The door was thick, but if Harry was very still and breathed lightly he was able to make out what Herpo was saying.

"You took MY book away from MY student, and expect ME to sit back and do NOTHING about it! I demand that you give my book back to him RIGHT NOW!" By the end of it Herpo's voice could be heard clearly through the door and Harry did not have to strain to hear what was being said. Snape must have been making some sort of reply because there was a long pause in the noise, where Harry could only distinguish a soft murmuring that he assumed must be Snape.

It was not long before Herpo's voice reappeared though. "This is all because you are jealous of him! He got the book and you didn't. No matter how many times you asked for it, I never gave it to you, and now you have it in your sticky fingers, because YOU STOLE IT!" There was another long pause where Harry could not distinguish what was being said, and he could only imagine how Snape must have been fuming right now. He was being yelled at by a painting. He did not think anyone would respond particularly well to that, but he imagined that Snape would be even more infuriated by it.

"RETURN IT NOW, or else …" the rest or Herpo's sentence dissolved into a soft murmuring that Harry could not understand, and he wondered what Herpo possible had that he could threaten Snape with. It was interesting that anyone had any leverage on Snape, a portrait made it even more interesting. Harry was caught in the middle of hi thoughts, that he was surprised when the door swung violently inward to reveal a fuming Snape.

"Potter"

"Sir." Harry responded, noticing how tense Snape's body was. Snape stiffly pulled the small book out of his pocket and held it out to Harry. Harry took it.

"I don't want to see you, hear you, or notice any sign that you even exist for the rest of the summer." Snape said tersely and as soon as that was said he slammed the door in Harry's face. Moments later Herpo strode proudly about the picture frames outside Snape's office.

"I told you I would get him." He said, proud of himself, and a bit arrogant.

Harry looked at Herpo with amazement and a tad bit of annoyance too. Sure, Herpo had just blackmailed Snape into giving Harry back his book, which was amazing. Harry had thought he was never going to get it back again. But, it had cost him the only real contact he had for the rest of the summer. Even though Harry did not like Snape, he had to admit that he did not want to be completely alone for the rest of the summer.

He began to walk slowly back up to his room, while Herpo went off somewhere to celebrate with some of the other portraits. When he got there he threw himself roughly onto his bed and opened up the book to where he had left off. But, he soon found that he was not going to be getting any further on this today. He sighed and got up and began to pace the room.

After a few minutes he thought of roaming the house again, but the memories of being yelled at by Snape were still to fresh in his mind, and he had no wish to run into that man again any time in the near future. He felt like getting outside. At the Dursley's he had been able to go outside, but here he felt like he was even more of a prisoner. No human contact, and confined space. The more Harry thought about it the worse it seemed to him.

'This is how Sirus felt at number twelve.' Harry thought bitterly to himself. 'Under lock and key, always, and never able to get away for even a few hours. No wonder he was so miserable there.' Harry went back to the bed and stretched out on it, staring at the ceiling. He fell asleep with tears on his face from the thoughts of his godfather, and the need to get stronger.

He would get more books from the portraits later.

---

In the morning, a ravenous Harry went down to the kitchen, eager to get breakfast from Maren. The house elf was delighted to see him so hungry. She more than happily loaded Harry's plate with food, but told him he would have to go eat in the dinning room at the end of the hallway. Harry tried to protest, knowing that it was highly likely that Snape would be there eating breakfast too. But, the house elf would not take no for an answer. With a push and a shove, Harry was being directed down the hallway by the little house elf, until Harry made it to the entrance of the dinning room and Maren went back to the kitchen, leaving Harry standing in the doorway of the dinning room, holding his breakfast and a glass of pumpkin juice. Harry pushed the door open just a little to peak inside to see if Snape was there. He was but, unfortunately for Harry, Snape spotted him before he was able to close the door again. "Potter!" Snape snapped as he pushed his breakfast away from him. Harry watched as Snape stalked towards the door. Snape wrenched the door all the way open. He glared down at Harry and began to speak, his voice ice cold. "I thought I told you yesterday that I did not want to know you even existed! And here you are, interrupting my breakfast first thing in the morning! Explain yourself"

"Well, um…you see, sir… there was Maren, and, well she kind of…kind of insisted that I ate in the dinning room. She would not leave me alone. She dragged me all the way here, even though I told her it would be a bad idea. You have got to believe me. If I had known for sure that you were in the dinning room I would have never come in…and, and…" Harry trailed off unsure if there was something else that Snape wanted to hear.

"Stop rambling, Potter! From now in you eat in the kitchen or your bedroom! Now get out of my sight." Snape hissed at Harry as he slammed the door in Harry's face yet again. Harry walked away dejected. He found himself surprisingly disappointed that Snape had not forgiven him for yesterdays incident. He walked slowly up to his room and began to eat in silence.

---

The next following days Harry found himself staying more to his bedroom, than roaming around the house like he had been doing before his encounter with Snape. It had taken Harry a while to get used to the almost constant low murmur that the house had, which was only interrupted when Herpo talked to Harry about snakes, and that only happened for an hour or two each day. The rest of the time Harry spent in silence reading.

He had easily finished the book, Guild to Basilisk, that Herpo had given him, and had asked other portraits in the room where he might find portraits that specialized in some different areas, mainly defense against the dark arts. The portraits had been more than happy to provide him with several different books on the subject, which he had worked through rather quickly, since he was not able to actually cast any spells and was only able to read about the theory behind all the spells.

That was in fact grating rather heavily upon Harry's nerves. He had come across a fair number of spells that he would like to try, but because of the restrictions on his wand, he would have to wait until the coming school year to actually try any of the spells. That is what he had thought, until one of the portraits approached him on the subject. It was a portrait of a rather nervous looking wizard in a stripped purple and yellow hat that was hung near the door to his room that piped up one day while he was eating his lunch. "Umm…Mister Potter? I was wondering if you would be interested in any instructions for potions." The portrait asked nervously.

"Oh, well I am not actually all that good at potions. I am not sure. What for?"

"W-well…your wand of course, since you can't use it right now."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused.

"It removes any tracking charms that were put on your wand." The portrait explained.

"Really? The ministry won't know that I am using it"

"Yes. Exactly." The portrait said happily as it gained confidence.

"Um…Is it very difficult? This potion?" Harry asked nervously. If the potion was difficult he was not sure he would be able to pull it off, let alone have all the correct ingredients for it.

"Not at all. Here, have a look." The portrait swung open revealing a five different small scrolls.

"Which one?"

"The one on the far right." Harry nodded absently and reached in and took out the dust covered scroll. Harry watched the portrait swung shut once he was clear of the opening and then unrolled the light parchment. Harry was relieved to see that the potion was not at all hard, it only would take about half and hour to prepare. Unfortunately one of the ingredients was not included in the student standard potion making kit, boomslang.

Harry stared miserably at that last ingredient. He did not have a scrap of boomslang. He would have to 'borrow' it from Snape, again. Harry was not happy about the prospect of doing that. He had luckily not run into Snape since their last encounter, since he had pretty much locked himself in his room, even going to the extent of asking Maren to bring him all his meals to his room. But this would mean that Harry would have to go to the heart of Snape's lair, his potions lab.

Harry looked back up at the portrait who had been staring at him. "Where could I get boomslang?" Harry asked, his voice slightly shaking.

"In Snape's potion lab, of course." the portrait replied quickly.

"Anywhere else?"

"Not unless you leave the house."

"Fine. Where is Snape's lab?"

"In the basement. You will have to ask some of the other portraits on how to get there exactly. I don't usually leave my frame unless I absolutely have to." The portrait said as it looked nervously at the edges of his portrait.

"Some help you are." Harry muttered as he walked out of his room, hoping to whatever guardian angels he had that Snape was not working in his lab right now. Harry walked quickly down the stairs and then turned to one of the portraits that hung at the bottom of the stairs. "Do you know where Snape's lab is"

"Why should I tell you?" The portrait of an old man said as he eyed Harry suspiciously.

"Because…" Harry began, pausing to think up some good excuse. "um…because I need to ask him something."

"Fine, there is door opposite the kitchen that has stairs to down to the basement, when you get to the bottom it is the first door to the right."

"Thank you," Harry said as he quickly made his way to the basement, looking around nervously and desperately hoping that Snape had gone out for the day. He didn't even notice that as soon as he turned around the portrait he had been talking to, quickly made its way towards the office Snape had on the first floor.


	4. Chapter 4

Twisted Summer

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

Harry found the door he was looking for. It was closed all the way and there was no light coming from behind the door, which relieved Harry. He quickly opened the door just a sliver and peered nervously into the room. It was pitch black. Harry looked up and down the hall quickly before casting a quick lumos spell and entering the potion's lab.

Harry left the door ajar as he entered the room. The lab was huge. There where cauldrons and ingredients covering every inch of the working space, most of it was pilled on top of old projects and it looked like nothing had been cleaned in ages. Harry looked around the room a bit disappointed. It would be nearly impossible to find boomslang quickly in this mess.

He made his way to the first logical place to look, the ingredient cupboard, which was crammed full of mis-shaped bottles. He pulled open the glass door and began running his finger tips over the labels of the bottles right before he heard the door being swung open forcefully and Snape's voice filling his ears "POTTER!"

Harry jumped and began to turn around, but in doing so pushed his hand forcefully into the ingredients and caused a few of the shelves the cave in on themselves. The sound of breaking glass and liquids falling onto the floor drowned out whatever Snape was about to say to Harry, because the entire cabinet began to come off the wall. Most of the ingredients found themselves falling onto or around Harry.

By the time everything had become silent again, Harry was a mass of bruises, cuts, blood and puss, as most of the ingredients and glass caused ill effects. Harry swayed dangerously and his eyes rolled back into his head. Before Snape had a chance react Harry was crumpled on the flood, unconscious.

* * *

For Snape time seemed to slow down as he watched the ingredients fall onto Potter. He knew he should take out his wand and prevent the bottles from breaking and spilling their contents onto Potter, but he was so stunned that the boy had actually managed to do something that clumsy. He just stared at Potter as he became increasingly injured, until he was shaken out of his daze by the near perfect silence, only interrupted by Potter's harsh breathing. Snape sighed as he looked at the site before him.

He walked quickly towards Potter and vanished all of the ruined potions supply with the wave of his wand and then gentle picked Harry up off the ground and carried him across the hall into a small extra bedroom, and put Potter's body on the thin bed. "Potter, you really made a mess of yourself this time." Snape muttered under his breath as he began to survey the wounds that Potter had received before walking back into the potions labs to get some healing potions that he had stocked up.

Snape walked around the room looking under different piles for the box of first-aid potions and all the while muttering under his breath. "…I swear, Potter is too much trouble to be keeping in this house. Dumbledore was expecting too much of me this time. As if spying does not take up enough of my time and energy…" Snape's babble began to fade to incomprehensible volume before he finally found what he was looking for. Under a tall stack of cauldrons Snape found a small wooden box with pale red letters that said 'First-Aid Potions.'

Snape quickly walked back to Potter's side and began applying the necessary potions to all of Potter's different cuts, bruises and pusses. The First-Aid box was nearly empty by the time Snape was done healing Potter. There were a few injuries that would require tending for the next few days, but nothing life threatening. Snape preformed a mobiliarbus and began directing to move the unconscious boy back to his room to rest.

* * *

Harry groaned and rolled over onto his side. He could smell the faint lingering of medical potions around him, and then he suddenly remembered what had happened, the lab, the accident and Snape. Harry opened his eyes slowly and was glad to see that the room was dim, so it did not irritate his eyes badly. He sat up, the light blanket falling off of his torso as he began to search blindly for his glasses.

There was a blurry form of a desk next to his bed and he began patting at it to see if his glasses were there. Harry sighed wondering where his glasses had gone. Suddenly a soft voice and chuckle came from the end of his bed, "Looking for these?" Harry's glasses were placed deftly onto his face, and Harry was surprised to find himself staring at his potion's professor. He had not even recognized his professor's voice when he had spoken so quietly. There was a brief silence as Harry readjusted his glasses.

"Um, yes. I was." Harry said, averting his gaze from his professor, who seemed to be amused by his lack of eyesight. Harry did not think he had ever seen his Snape smirk just like that. It looked like his smirk was attempting to gain control and become a small smile. It almost made Harry think that just maybe Snape did not have a heart made of nothing but ice, that is until Snape's voice became cold again.

"What were you thinking going into my private lab." Snape said cutting straight to the point, his gaze turning cold and calculating.

"Well…you see, I was going to ask you for some potion ingredients." Harry said nervously, finding the edge of the sheet on his bed suddenly very interesting.

"I was not aware you were able to even brew a potion." Snape drawled as he moved to stand up.

Harry's head shot up and glared at his potion's professor. "Of course I can!"

"Believe what you want, Potter, but I know that you can not make a halfway decent potion of any kind." Snape said as he began shifting threw some different vials that were sitting on a table in the middle of the room, not looking at Harry.

"Then how do you explain me getting through potions during Hogwarts!" Harry said indignantly.

"The good graces of the Headmaster, I seem to recall." Snape explained as he carried an open vial towards Harry "Drink" He commanded as he practically thrust the potion into Harry's face.

"Wha'!" Harry explained as he quickly pressed his lips together, preventing any potion from entering his mouth. He would never put it past Snape to poison him.

"If you expect to heal anytime soon you will drink this!" Snape said angrily.

"How …" But Harry was cut out as the potion began to flow into his mouth as soon as he had opened his mouth to reply. He nearly gagged as the potion made it's way down his throat. "What was that for?" Harry nearly yelled once he had recovered.

"Your health." Snape said dryly.

"You could have told me that before you forced it down my throat."

"It was more entertaining to watch you squirm though." Snape said the corners of his lips curling up while Harry glared up at the older man, not amused in the slightest.

"I will be back in an hour to administrate the next potion." Snape said as he walked out the door.

Harry stared at the door for a long time before he pulled a hand to his head as he stretched out on the bed. His head hurt. The potion that Snape had given him did not seem to be helping at all. Or maybe it was. He couldn't tell.

The potion began to make his vision blur, and even with his glasses on things began to slip out of focus and enter a realm of abstractness. Harry frowned. He should not have so much trouble seeing with his glasses on. He would have to ask Snape about that.

While Harry stared at the blurry ceiling his mind focused on Snape. How in the world had the professor known about his visit to the potions lab so quickly? He had not seen the potion master in days, so there was no way he would have known before hand. He had not even told any of the other portraits that he was going to make a potion except for the portrait in his room and the one at the bottom of the stairs.

Harry frowned as he thought about that. The portrait in his room had no objections about Harry going to Snape's lab. The portrait at the bottom of the stairs had been rather unsupportive and suspicious of Harry. –It must have been who informed the greasy git. Stupid portrait. Stupid me for not realizing that possibility earlier.- Harry sighed. He should have realized that not all of the portraits would be as kind to him as the ones that were in his room. There was no point worrying about it anymore though.

Harry shifted around in his bed until he was comfortable and fell asleep, escaping his pounding headache and entering a world of dreams.

* * *

"What do you mean he had been removed from his Aunt's house?" Voldemort yelled from where he sat on a regal throne in front of one of his masked death eaters that stood calmly in front of him.

"Just that, My Lord. It seems that only Dumbledore knows what has happened to the boy. He tells his order that he has been moved to a more secure location." The death eater explained in a deep calm voice.

"Only Dumbledore?" Voldemort hissed, "Surely one of Potter's friends must know his location!"

"I am afraid not my lord. I examined everyone closely. No one else knew."

"You have failed me!" The dark lord screeched as he grabbed his wand and pointed it at the death eater, whose composer was now faltering.

"I … I swear it my lord. N-no one else knows! I can't figure it out!" The death eater's voice begged.

"It is too late. You will pay for your failure this time! CURCIO!" Voldemort laughed as he watched his servant wither around on the floor. Voldemort let out a cruel chuckle. "Tonight I will hear you scream, Severus. CURCIO!"

* * *

Harry awoke later, his head hurting more than it had when he had gone to bed if that were possible. -Where is Snape?- He thought to himself. –Wasn't he suppose to come back and give me more potion?- Harry tried to sit up to see the clock that hung on the other wall, but found that he could hardly lift his head six inches off the bed without feeling nauseous. Not that it would have mattered if he had been able to get up, his vision had worsened even more to the point where almost nothing was in focus.

Harry's nausea did not disappear when he lay back down. He could fell the bile forming in throat. Harry quickly tried to fight his way over to the side of the bed before he made a mess, but unfortunately for him, Snape had placed him in the center of his large bed, and he never made it to the edge of the bed before his stomach emptied itself and Harry passed out.

* * *

Severus Snape awoke shivering, his head pounding and his vision blurry. His whole body ached as he tried to sit up and take a better look at his surroundings. The cold air and stone floor did nothing to improve his condition as he pushed himself up. He swayed dangerously, almost falling back down onto the cold floor.

Snape's head swam as he stumbled over to the nearby wall. Breathing heavily, Snape made his first attempt to fully observe his surroundings. He was in what appeared to be a small cubicle, a wooden door on the wall opposite of the one that he was leaning against and a small circular window above his head, letting silvery moon light pour into the room. But the one thing that caught Snape's attention the most was the figure that stood in the opposite corner, Lucius Malfoy.

They stared at each other silently before Lucius Malfoy finally broke the silence. "Severus," Lucius began politely.

"Lucius." Severus choked out, his voice horse.

"That was quite the display, earlier this evening. Really, Severus, you should know better than to disappoint our lord." Lucius said quietly, a small smile tugging at his lips. "But, I must admit that I did quite enjoy seeing you finally getting a decent punishment for your mistakes. The Dark Lord has been far to lenient with you lately."

Lucius walked out of his corner and over to where Severus was standing. He lightly grabbed Severus's chin in his gloved hand and tilted Severus's head up so that their eyes meet. "No matter though," Lucius continued in a light tone. "Our Lord has a new task for you. He has put you in charge of capturing the youngest Weasley boy at all cost. You are to get the boy even if you have to give up your position at Dumbledore's side. It is obvious he does not trust you anymore. You never come back with any useful information. Don't fail the dark lord again, or you may find that you are subject to more than just the crucio curse."

Lucius pushed Severus away from him, and quickly exited the room. Snape swayed again as he stumbled into the wall behind him and slid down it slowly feeling consciousness leave him again. It was several hours before Snape woke again that evening. However, this time he was alone, and feeling much better than when he had first awoken. His sight had cleared and his head did not hurt as much as it had earlier when he had been speaking, or rather listening to Lucius. Snape picked carefully lifted himself off of the cold floor and straightened himself.

Now that his head had cleared and he was able to think straightly he realized exactly where he was. He was in one of the Dark Lord's holding cells. It was not the first time he had woken up here after and excruciatingly painful punishment. Snape sighed and rubbed his head. He needed to be going home, get a good nights sleep, and some healing potions.

Snape froze when he thought of potions. 'Harry!' His mind screamed as he realized that he had left Harry at home with no one to give him the potion ever hour. Who knew how long he had been gone. He rushed out of the room and down the hall to where a death eater, in full gear sat on a stool reading the daily prophet. The death eater looked up when he heard Snape storming down the corridor.

"Feeling better, sir?" said the death eater, probably some new recruit that had been given the job of watching over the holding rooms. Snape just grunted at the man and walked past him and into the room that the death eater had been sitting in front of. This was the only room in the whole area that was not under an anti-apparition ward.

Snape hurried into the room and apparated back to outside his own anti-apparition wards and running as fast as his weak body would allow towards his home.

Snape threw open his front door and quickly began to climb the stairs that lead up to Harry's room. He was oblivious to all of the portraits that stared at him as he ran by, for when was the last time they had seen Severus in such a panicked state? No, Severus paid no mind to the paintings. The only thing that concerned him at the moment was Harry's health.

He threw open the door to Harry's room and paled at what he saw. Maren was there, leaning worriedly over Harry's sweat covered face. "Maren," Snape began, his voice soft, "Leave."

"But, but master Potter? I…I don't know what is wrong with him."

"I will deal with Potter, you leave."

"Very well, sir." Maren said as she left the room with a small pop.

Snape slowly made his way over to Harry's bed and ran his hand over Harry's forehead. It was too hot. Severus swore softly to himself as he pulled open the bed side table drawer and pulled out all manners of potions, giving Harry almost a little taste of all of them until finally there was nothing left that he could have done. Snape sat down exhausted, and pulled out one potion for himself, an awakening potion so that he could stay up the rest of the evening an monitor Harry's progress.

In his mind it was his fault really that this had happened. He should have warned Maren to be giving Harry his potions, but he had not. And now he had an order from the dark lord that he would never be able to complete hanging over his head. It looked as though his days as a spy were over. He would die, undoubtedly. Severus sighed and buried his head in his hands, physically and emotionally exhausted from the day's happenings.

It was early morning when the potion that Severus had taken finally began to wear off. Harry's health had made no changes. It was stable but not improving. It worried Severus. He was only able to do some much before they would really need to go to a professional healer. "Maren." He called out into the silence of his own home.

"Yes, Master Snape?" Maren asked as she appeared nearly silently in front of Severus.

"Maren, listen very carefully. Potter is very sick he need to take a sip of this potion once every hour, but I need to go get some sleep now. Can you make sure that Potter drinks his potion once an hour?" Snape asked.

"Of course, Master Snape."

"Very well then." Severus said as he handed over Harry's potion. "I will be going to get some sleep now. Come wake me if anything changes with Potter." And with that Severus walked out of the room and down the hall to his own room. He collapsed onto his bed without even changing into pajamas. He was asleep within seconds of his head hitting the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

Twisted Summer

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

It felt like no time had passed to Severus when he was later awoken by a frantic Maren jumping up and down on his bed. "Master Snape! Please, come quick! Master Potter he is not doing well. Not doing well at all!" Severus groaned as he rolled over in his bed and stumped out of his bed.

"What is wrong with him, Maren?"

"He keeps thrashing around and wont lay still for Maren to give him his potion." Maren said, her eyes filling with tears.

Hearing this Snape made his way more quickly down the hall to Harry's room and quickly marched over to Harry's side. Harry was shuddering and rolling this way and that when Severus got to his side. Severus quickly wrenched open the drawer where he kept his potions and pulled out potion that lay quietly in the farthest corner. He quickly uncorked it and grabbed Harry's head, forcing the neon purple potion down Harry's throat. Within seconds Harry's shaking subsided and his breathing began to even.

Severus on the other hand had gotten very stiff and his hands were shaking ever so slightly. He looked down at the potion bottle in his hands, Einde van Dood, stop of death. It was a very gray potion. On one hand it did indeed cure almost any symptoms, but in some cases the side affects of curing one illness were almost not worth it. It had been Severus's last resort. If he hadn't used it Harry would have most likely died. Now the only thing was to wait and see. There was nothing else that Severus could do. He sat there for hours waiting for Harry to make any signs that he was getting better. His wait was well worth it though. A few hours after he had given Harry the Einde Van Dood he had opened his eyes briefly and gazed at Severus before he had rolled back over onto his side and fallen into what seemed to be a peaceful sleep. Severus was relieved. He called Maren back to watch over Harry and decided that he was in much need of sleep. Severus went back to bed, able to sleep peacefully knowing that Harry was going to get better.

* * *

Severus awoke late in the morning after a peaceful night of sleep. He was feeling much better than he had been the previous evening. He got out of bed and stretched, his back cracking as he did. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he went over to his bathroom for a much needed shower.

* * *

Harry rolled over onto his back. It felt like he had, had his brain smashed with a giant brick. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself staring at a ceiling that he did not recognize. A dark wood panelled ceiling was not like anything he had seen in Snape's house before. 'Maybe they have finally taken me away from him!' Harry thought with a small amount of glee. He turned his head slightly to get a better look at the room, and was disappointed to find that it was still covered in portraits. He was still at Snape's. Harry sighed heavily, as he brought his hand up to rub his head, trying to soothe his pounding head.

It did not help at all.

Harry slowly sat up against the head board. He was feeling much better than he had, the last time he had woken up. He didn't feel like he was going to burst into flames at any moment, and instead of his whole body aching, only his head hurt, and his throat felt like it had not tasted water in days. He opened his mouth to call for Marren, and was surprised when no sound came out. He tried again. Nothing.

Harry frowned, and rubbed at his neck thoughtfully. He pulled himself out of bed and carefully stood up, only to find himself suddenly very light headed. He sat back down on his bed. Maybe it would not be such a good idea to go all the way down to the kitchen in search of a glass of water. Besides, he didn't even know what part of the house he was in anymore.

* * *

Severus feeling fully clean and awake now, made his way from the master bedroom, to the room next to his where he had moved Harry, so he could keep a closer eye on him. He opened the door silently to see Harry swaying slightly at the side of his bed, before sitting down heavily. He watched as the boy sighed and lay back down on the bed, his feet still thrown over the side.

Severus smirked ever so slightly and came to the side of the bed and towered over the unsuspecting boy. Severus's smirk grew even larger, however, as he watched Harry's eyes widen slightly at the sight of the potions master.

"Well, Potter. How are you feeling." Severus asked the boy who was now trying desperately to sit up. The potion master's smirk however slowly turned into a frown however as he watched the boy open and close his mouth like a fish, no answer being given.

"Potter, I knew you were an imbecile, but surely you can tell me if you feel well or not." Severus asked his voice harsh, trying to mask his anxiousness. But, still no answer was given. Instead, now Harry looked even more panicked than before as his hands began to rub vigorously at his throat.

"Can you make no sound at all, Potter?" Severus finally asked his voice low and soft with worry.

Harry shook his head negative and watched as his potion masters eyebrows burrowed even further together in a deep frown.

"None at all?" His professor asked again.

Again Harry shook his head, making fist at his side and willing himself to not let his raging emotions take form in tears. Harry watched as Snape frowned and pulled out his wand, making Harry stiffen, wanting to reach for his own wand (if he had even known where it was). Snape muttered something quietly under his breath that Harry had been unable to hear and a small softly glowing ball of magic floated slowly from the tip of Snape's wand to Harry's throat, making Harry's throat glow a soft pink before turning it's glow to a violent red.

"Negative then." Harry heard Snape mutter before pocketing his wand. "Marren!" Snape called, there was a small pop and the elf appeared. "Mr. Potter is in need of plenty of water." Harry shivered slightly as he looked up into the cool gaze of his professor, while wonder all the while what in the world was wrong with him. "Potter, I need to go run some errands. I will be back soon. In the mean time, stay in this room and drink lots of water." Snape said stiffly before turning his back and walking quickly out of the room.

* * *

Snape's body was tense as he closed the door behind him. Harry Potter was mute. He had effectively just signed the death warrant for the entire light side of the wizarding world, for how was the boy-who-lived supposed to defeat Voldemort if he could not even speak to cast a spell? It was all his fault. Severus frowned. He need to speak with Dumbledore. Now. He rushed down the hallway to closest fireplace and threw a handful of floo powder into the fire, acting on instincts that had gotten him through the years. "Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office" He shouted, his voice cracking ever so slightly under the emotional strain he was going through. He steeped quickly into the fireplace and was whisked away.

Snape reappeared in a heap on the floor of the headmaster's office. It was not the first time that this had happened. His body had gone into shock after being put through so much stress the last few days. He was finished as a spy. He had effectively just lost the war. In almost one day his world had come crashing down around him. He hardly even noticed that Fawkes was trying to sing a soothing song. He pulled himself up off the floor to find that the Headmaster was not there to be told the news before he passed out from shock.

* * *

What Dumbledore had been expecting when he walked into his office late that afternoon was not to see an unconscious Severus Snape laying on his floor with Fawkes hovering over him like a worried mother. Rushing over to his side, Dumbledore found that his beloved potions master was burning up with a fever. "Whatever happened, my boy?" Dumbledore murmured under his breath as he brushed his hand across Severus's forehead. With a quick morbilicorpus Dumbledore had Snape floating behind him as he quickly strode down towards the infirmary.

"Poppy!" Albus called into the empty looking infirmary.

"What do you want..." Poppy said before trailing off as she saw Severus floating a few feet back from the headmaster. With a scowl she turned to Dumbledore. "Those meetings are going to be the last of him, Albus! Here put him over on the bed. Let's see what is wrong this time." She exclaimed exasperated at having to treat her second most common patient again. With a small flick of his wand Albus moved Severus's unconscious body over to the bed. "Really, Albus," Poppy began again, but this time more softly, "Do you really need information so badly?" Poppy frowned as she moved her wand over her patient while mutter various healing spells under her breath.

"His information is invaluable." Dumbledore began, "I know that it pains you to see him come in like this, but we have both agreed that it is for the best."

Poppy just sighed at that. "Well, he suffered through torture, again. It looks like that was a few days ago. Otherwise, I would just say he literally passed out from exhaustion."

"Thank you, Poppy. Now, if you don't mind I am going to ask him a few questions." Dumbledore said giving Poppy a meaningful look. Poppy sighed and went back into her office, muttering about how Severus really should not have to continue going back there to get tortured.

Once Poppy was gone Albus cast a quick ennervate charm on Snape and watched as his potion master's eyes slowly opened and with a dazed look took in their surroundings. "Hello, Severus." Dumbledore said softly, watching in amusement as Severus seemed to become almost instantly alert.

"Albus." Severus said, his voice raspy and dry.

"I was wondering why you decided to take a nap on my floor." Albus asked, not beating around the bush.

* * *

Severus's insides churned at that question. Why had he been asleep on the headmaster's floor. There where so many answers to that question. It could be the fact that he was suppose to kidnap the Weasley boy so he could be tortured and then killed. Or maybe it was the fact that he would probably be killed if he 'mysteriously' failed to bring in the boy. Or it could be the fact that it was his fault that Harry Potter, the bloody-boy-who-lived, savior of the light, and horrid potions student was now a bloody mute! Sighing mentally to himself he turned his head to glare at the headmaster. "I did not choose to fall asleep on your floor." He said simply.

Albus's lips curled into a smile his eyes twinkling with amusement. "I see. Well then, how have your last few days been."

"Horrid." Severus said simply, not giving the headmaster the satisfaction of an easy answer.

"Care to elaborate, Severus?"

"Not really."

"What happened?" Albus asked, now getting tired of dancing around the bush with Severus.

Severus frowned slightly. "I am to capture the Weasley boy, bring him to the dark lord to be tortured and killed in order to provoke action from Potter."

"Hmm, that is a dilemma. Obviously we can not actually give him Mr. Weasley." Albus said, a small frown finding its way onto the headmaster's brow. "We will have to give him someone else in disguise." The headmaster finally said after a few minutes of thought.

"What?!" Severus exclaimed, loosing his composure. "That would be impossible! The dark lord would know! He plans on torturing and killing the boy! You would honestly send someone else to an early grave?"

"Of course not. I expect you would be able to get whoever we send in, out."

"Impossible, Albus. As soon as I brought this said person to the dark lord they would be dead. I would not be able to get them out."

"Yes, you would. You would have to." Albus said, his voice leaving no room for opposition and his eyes beginning to lose their twinkle.

Severus frowned back at the headmaster. He had expected the headmaster to possible offer him some sanctuary, an end to his spying, maybe even put him in Black's mansion. But no, he was being offered an early grave along with whatever fool hearted person Albus decided to send along with him. They would both be discovered and Severus would be killed undoubtedly.

"Fine." Severus said, resigned for now.

Albus smiled brightly. "Good, good. I knew you would eventually see that my idea had merit. Now how is Harry?"

Severus skin became ashen. This of course did not go unnoticed by the headmaster.

"Severus?" He asked in a harsh accusing tone.

"Yes, headmaster?" Severus said calmly, his voice not betraying how nervous and clammy he felt on the inside.

"How is Harry?" Albus asked again harshly.

"Mute." Severus said, his voice cracking slightly as he flinched back from what he knew would now be a very angry headmaster.

"Mute." The headmaster repeated dully. "I don't suppose you would have anything to do with this, would you, Severus?" The headmaster asked in a low quiet voice, almost shaking with unleashed furry.

"Well..." Severus began.

"Merlin have mercy on your soul if you had anything to do with this." Albus whispered fiercely.

"Harry had a potions accident early this week, I had been treating him when I was called away for a meeting. I expected to only be gone an hour at most, I was gone most of the evening however, I had to take drastic measures in order to keep Potter alive, leaving him mute." Severus blurted out in one quick breath.

"He had a potions accident."

"Yes."

"A week ago?"

"Yes." Severus answered again, not sure he liked where this was going.

"Then, WHY, Severus, did you not bring him here immediately!?" Albus yelled making Snape flinch back again from the headmaster.

"I believed I would be able to treat him, if I were able to give him his potion every hour."

"So, you believed, you, a person with no medical training at all, would be able to treat Harry for an injury that was sever enough to make him mute?" Albus hissed angrily at the potion master.

"I do to have medical training." Severus muttered to himself indignantly, getting angry with the headmaster.

"You do? How much? Surely not enough to surpass Poppy's skills!"

"I am a master healer." Severus almost yelled. "If you would pay more attention to what is going on outside of your stupid little battles with the dark lord, you would have noticed that I have been discreetly training in healing ever since that Potter brat came to Hogwarts! Why do you think I come to the hospital wing less now than I did during the first war?! It is because I am able to heal myself!" Severus was fuming by the end of his little speech. How dare the headmaster suggest he did not know what he was doing. He knew exactly what he was doing! More than Poppy did at any rate.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Albus asked, some of his anger forgotten.

"I am a slytherin, Albus. You honestly expect me to share everything of my life with you?" Severus said with a small snort.

"Something of this magnitude, yes."

"Slytherins keep their secrets."

"So I have noticed." Albus said darkly. "Go home, Severus. I will come get Harry tomorrow morning." And with that, the headmaster left the infirmary without saying a parting goodbye.

"Fine."

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

Twisted Summer

* * *

Chapter Six

* * *

A/N: The begining might be old to ome of you but about halfway down it is completely new material )

* * *

Back at Snape's house Harry sat in bed trying to wrestle a glass of water away from his mouth. Ever since Snape had left Harry, Marren had come by almost every fifteen minutes to make Harry drink a full glass of water. Harry, of course, was not thrilled with this. The first glass he had drunken calmly enough, but by the time he had gotten to his fifth glass, he felt like his stomach was about ready to burst, not to mention his balder. But, Marren had been insistent, and with no voice of his own to protest his feelings to Marren, she came back every fifteen minutes with a glass of water, much to the amusement of the portraits in the room.

This was the eighth glass of water she had come with, almost two hours after Snape had left. "Master Potter, must drink his water. Master Snape insist!" Marren said as she started to try and push the glass of water towards Harry's mouth. Harry tried his best to glare down at the silly house elf, but had no success with that, so he grabbed the glass from the elf and sipped slowly at it, hardly drinking any at all. But, now at least it was out of the hands of Marren.

Harry leaned back against the head board of his bed again, wondering about where Snape had gone. Maybe he had gone to get a potion to get him back his voice. That would be nice. He had hardly been without his voice for three hours and already he was frustrated at not having it. He hoped that Snape would hurry up with it though. Marren was really getting out of hand.

* * *

Severus Snape was fuming when he finally made it back into his study. He was angered that the headmaster would doubt his common sense. He was angry that the task of watching Harry Potter that had been entrusted to him was going to be taken away.

Fuming, the potion master made his way over to a large portrait of his mother that had been painted when she was a young woman. Severus's mother was a pretty lady, with long black hair flowing down to her waist and dark eyes sparkling with the energy of youth. "Mother, the wards need to be lifted to maximum security. With the exception of me, I want nothing living coming in or out of my home for the rest of the summer."

The young woman in the portrait looked down from her frame at Severus. "Are you sure, dear? What about your communications with Dumbledore. He usually comes over about once a week for tea, doesn't he?"

"Yes." Severus practically hissed out. "That is exactly who I don't want coming here!"

"Severus..." the portrait started in a reprimanding tone.

"You have my orders, I need to tend to Mr. Potter." Severus snapped leaving the portrait staring back after him.

Severus fumed all the way to Potter's room and threw the door open to find Potter trying to escape from a glass of water that was being pushed towards him. "Potter!" Snape snapped, waiting for a form of acknowledgment, before realizing that he would not get anything more than Potter staring at him. Shaking himself mentally he continued on. "I have talked to the Headmaster about our predicament and I have to increase the wards, so it does not look like you are going to be leaving the house for the rest of the summer."

Severus watched with a sinking felling in his stomach as Potter opened his mouth to protest but no words came out. It was going to be a long summer. "No use arguing about it, Potter." He said. "Maren will attend to you for the time being." He said before abruptly turning and leaving the room.

* * *

Harry raised his hand to tell Snape to wait, but he was already gone before he could say...no, do anything to communicate his confusion. Still ignoring Maren, Harry made his way over to his trunk and quickly grabbed some parchment, quill and ink. It was time to see what was really going on around here.

Sitting down on the bed, book underneath the parchment, Harry began to write:

Dear Professor Snape,

For most of the day today and the last I have been left in the dark about what is happening. I know that I had the potions accident in the lab, which I am sorry for by the way. I remember waking up at some point and you giving me a potion saying you would be back later to give me another. After that I was sort of in and out, but then I woke up again today and can't make a sound. I want to know what in the world is happening. Some answers would be nice.

Harry Potter.

Harry looked down at his short note to Snape and internally sighed as he watched the ink at the end of his letter dry. It had only really been a day, but not being able to make a talk to anyone was really beginning to grate on Harry's nerves. Folding the letter, he went to call out for Maren who had left halfway through his letter but stopped when he realized it would be no use.

Furrowing his brow Harry looked down at the letter in his hands. Hedwig was not in either and he had no idea where Snape might be. He could be anywhere.

* * *

The anywhere that Snape might have been, however, was actually just around the corner from Harry's room. Severus was pacing the length of the room, his mind in turmoil after the stressful events of the last few days.

The question that weighed most heavily on his mind however was, what does one do with a child, a wizarding child at that, who is mute. The fact that said mute wizarding child was the son of his school rival did not help ease his mind on the mater either.

Wizards were unaccustomed to having to deal with the mute. There were few accidents that left people permanently mute, and any children that were mute before the age of eleven were cast aside as squibs due to the fact that they would be unable to train their magic. There was little to guild wizards on how to deal mutes so Severus decided he would have to turn to the next best source, the muggles.

"Maren!" Severus called out. There was a soft pop and Maren appeared at his feet. "Make sure that Potter eats something tonight. I have to go out. I should be back late tonight."

"Of course, Master Snape." Maren said bowing low he large ears brushing the carpeted floor.

* * *

The next morning Albus Dumbledore was found sitting behind his desk a pensive look plastered across his usually cheerful face. He had tried earlier to go and retrieve Harry from Severus's home, only to find that the floo network had been shut down. He had then tried to apparate outside of the grounds. That too had been unsuccessful as he no longer seemed to be able to remember where exactly he was supposed to be apparating to. Frustrated with Severus, he had sent an owl hoping that his spy had not put up wards to block out owls too.

* * *

Harry awake in the morning to find Maren prodding him in the side. "I have breakfast for, Master Potter." She said, her high pitched voice making Harry's ears ring.

Harry moaned and rolled over onto his back. He opened his mouth to ask what time it was, only to remember that he still couldn't do that. Snapping his jaw shut he sat up and looked at what Maren had brought for him, pancakes and sausage along with a tall glass of water and a smaller glass of orange juice. Harry nodded his thanks to Maren and took the tray from her.

He ate slowly and Maren came back half an hour later to collect his tray. "Master Snape asks that you make yourself presentable and that he will be down in fifteen minutes to see you." With a slight nod to Maren, Harry began to think about what it was that Snape was going to come and tell him. Maybe he would finally find out was was going on in this crazy house. He most definitely hoped that Snape would have something that would restore his voice.

* * *

Harry had just finished putting on some of his clean clothing when Snape walked in carry a large bag of what appeared to be books.

"How are you, Potter?" Snape asked, his voice unusually soft. "Good?"

Harry nodded in agreement.

"Good. You are most likely trying to comprehend what has happened to you."

Harry nodded again.

"Very well. After you destroyed my potions lab I was giving you a potion on the hour. You remember that?"

Affirmative.

"I was summoned by the Dark Lord as was unable to return in time to give you your potion and had forgotten to tell Maren to do so." Snape explained.

Harry cringed as he remembered what he had seen last night.

"Your condition worsened considerably and I had to use a potion called the Eined von Dood to stop you from getting continually worse. Understood?"

A nod.

"It has made you permanently mute, as far as I cant tell." Snape said calmly.

That did not get a nod. Harry stared at the man. That was crazy sounding. He couldn't be permanently mute, could he? What would he do? He couldn't do magic if he couldn't speak. If he couldn't do magic how was he suppose to defeat Voldemort? Questions raced through Harry's mind and there seemed to be no answers to any of them.

* * *

Severus watched nervously as the boy sat in shock and then slowly his breathing came more and more quick, and soon Severus was certain the boy was almost hyperventilating. "Potter!" He snapped.

The boy looked up at him with hose bright green eyes. "It will be fine." Snape said uncomfortable, trying to calm his temporary charge down. The boy shook his head slowly, obviously not believing him. "Look, I went to the store and got some books on sign language." Snape explained as he sat the bag of books down on the bed next to Harry. "I suggest you start learning, so that you can have at least some level of communication."

With that last explanation Snape swept quickly out of the room not being able to stand how lost Potter had looked when he had told him that he was mute.

---

Harry stared down at the books before him, his eyes unfocused. He would never be able to speak again. That was the main thought that kept running through his head. Never to utter another sound.

Harry looked down at the books that Snape had brought up for him. He picked up the first one and read the cover. 'A beginners Guide to Sign Language.' A beginner that was what he was now. He was going to have to start all over. Frustration began to build in Harry and he wanted to let out a cry but all that escaped was a soft huff of air. Clutching the book tightly in his hands he turned around quickly and threw it as hard as he could at the opposite wall.

The book hit a large portrait who let out a rather nasty phrase of words but Harry paid no mind. Instead he turned and buried his head into his pillows to hid the tears that had begun to fall. He was never going to speak again.

* * *

Severus Snape was pacing the length of his room yet again. For the last two hours he had been reading his own copy of 'A Beginners Guide to Sign Language' and had found it full of explanations on strange hand gestures that muggles used to communicate to one another. He had managed to memorize most of the different hand positions for the letters, but was glad that he would not actually have to be making such bizarre gestures to try and get his point across.

He looked over at his wall where one of the portraits of a young potions master was hanging. "Billius?" Severus asked quietly.

"Yes, Sev?" The portrait replied.

"Will you go and check to see how Potter is taking all of this?"

"Of course I will be back momentarily." And with that the portrait began hoping through different paintings until he was out of sight. Severus rubbed his forehead as he watched to young portrait leave. Severus sincerely hoped that Potter was doing better than when he had left. He had heard something rather loud crash into one of the walls, but since then he had heard nothing, which he supposed was to be expected from now on when Potter was involved.

It was another minute before Billius came back into the room and announced. "It appears as if he is asleep."

"That's it?" Severus asked annoyed.

"Well, I talked to some of the other portraits in the room and they said that it looked like he had cried until he was exhausted and then fell asleep." Billius said rather quickly.

"Wonderful." Snape muttered to himself. This was exactly what he needed at the moment, an emotional teenager. "Very well, thank you for your help Billius." Severus said before he walked out of his room. He needed something to take his mind off of him and Potter's current situation.

* * *

A/N: A little bit of new, and a little bit of old in this chapter. I hope it was okay and that how i condensed the older chapters works for all of my wonderful readers.

Hope you like this one. Hope to get the next chapter up in about a week or two.

Until then!

Pandora

R&R


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